Tag: NIT

The Times They Are A-Changin’

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 1 Comment

It’s time to make some changes around here.

Everything evolves. People evolve (I’m not trying to start the debate to end all debates). The world evolves. And most importantly; sports evolve. Major organizations, such as the NFL and NCAA must evolve alongside their respective sport, or they’ll be left in the dust.

NFL

With the 2018 NFL Combine under way, the NFL competition committee figured it was an appropriate time to discuss potential rule changes. The most highly debated, controversial topic in the NFL has been the ‘catch rule’. No one watching, playing, coaching, or refereeing can define a catch. That has to change. And it looks like it will.

New York Giants’ owner, John Mara, who’s a committee member, had this to say, “It’s easy to say the rule has got to be changed, but coming up with the right language is a challenge.” Mara went on to say the committee unanimously agreed controversial incompletions like Dez Bryant’s in the 2014 playoffs and Calvin Johnson’s from the 2010 season would both be ruled completions moving forward. Finally, all those Dez Caught It! fantasy football team names will be accurate!!

dez

The committee is also discussing modifying the defensive pass interference rule. Rather than being a spot foul, it would be a 15-yard penalty. In theory this makes sense, because the current rule assumes a completion, however, the proposed rule doesn’t account for a defender intentionally tackling a receiver by his feet, who’s wide open 50 yards down field. I don’t envy the committee, but at least they’re trying to evolve alongside the game of football.

NCAA

The NCAA, apparently, didn’t want to get left out of the rule changing fun. They’ll temporarily implement four rule changes during this year’s NIT (National Invitation Tournament):

  • The 3-point line will be moved back 20 inches. It’ll now be the same distance as used by FIBA in international play.
  • The free throw lane, aka “the key”, will be extended from 12 to 16 feet (the same size as the NBA).
  • Two 20-minute halves will be broken down to four 10-minute quarters.
  • Following an offensive rebound, the shot clock will reset to 20 seconds rather than 30.

While I’m not a fan of rule changes mid-season, 3 out of 4 of these are long overdue. The only one I disagree with is resetting the shot clock to 20 seconds. What’s the purpose of this rule?? Why shouldn’t the team, who earned another possession, receive another 30 seconds to attempt to score??

Even though most people are afraid of change, it’s a good thing. Embrace it, or the (sports) world may pass you by.

 

What do you think of these proposed rule changes?? If you have a rule change idea, post it in the comment section below.

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In Case You missed It

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

While everyone has been gearing up for the most exciting tournament of the year, there have been some other sporting events that you may have missed. I missed them as well, for good reason, but let me fill you in just in case you haven’t heard about them. Let me start with the most insignificant of them all. Did you guys really just storm the court for an NIT victory? I get it, Robert Morris probably isn’t supposed to beat anybody so beating Kentucky is a big deal, but it is the NIT. Who wants to watch the leftover scraps play basketball? This tournament isn’t meaningful, and I don’t know why we even have it. Most teams, like Kentucky, are so disappointed that they didn’t make it into the real tournament that they mail in an effort in the NIT. Congratulations Robert Morris, you beat a team that didn’t even want to be there.

Something else you definitely missed was the finals of the World Baseball Classic. Man is this tournament a bad idea. ALL PLAYERS should be with their respective REAL teams in March. You know, since they are holding this little thing called spring training right now. If you wanted to watch baseball’s watered down version of the ‘World Cup’, then I guess you were 1 of the 14 people who watched the World Baseball Classic. The Dominican Republic dominated the World Baseball Classic going 8-0 in the tournament. They capped off their run though the Classic with a 3-0 victory over Puerto Rico.

Also, over the past week we have seen a handful of free agent signings in the NFL. Steven Jackson signed with the Atlanta Falcons, bringing the size and strength their running game has been missing. Sure you can say, well what about Michael Turner wasn’t he a good strong back? No, no he wasn’t. The guy looked like he was running in quicksand. Jackson entering his 10th NFL season will be a better fit for the Falcons then Turner ever was. Greg Jennings has signed with the enemy; the Minnesota Vikings. There used to be a day when people would cringe when players signed with their rival, but the game has changed. In today’s NFL, there is no such thing is loyalty. It’s all about the Benjamin’s baby! Jennings should be a nice addition for the Vikings who traded Percy Harvin to the Seattle Seahawks prior to free agency. The New York Jets are still holding Darrelle Revis in limbo with his playing career. The Jets obviously aren’t pleased with the offers they are getting for Revis, or else he’d be gone by now. This begs the question, will Darrelle Revis be traded before this season or will the Jets get stuck with him? Ed Reed is a big name that has yet to sign on a dotted line, however Baltimore is showing interest in re-signing him and the Houston Texans have shown some interest as well. Lastly, you had one of the weirdest situations in the history of the NFL happen last week. Elvis Dumervil, the outstanding defender for the Denver Broncos, had until 4 p.m. on March 15th to decide whether he would restructure his contract or be released by the Broncos. He had decided to restructure, however his decision which was sent via fax was received by the Broncos just minutes after the deadline. This snafu could cost either Dumervil millions of dollars or the Broncos one of their best players. Either way it is definitely one of the most interesting situations in NFL history.

In basketball news, the Miami Heat still haven’t lost a basketball game in a little over 23 years. Oh my bad, I meant 23 games, they’ve extended their streak to 23 straight wins and they haven’t lost since January. Also flying under the radar are the Denver Nuggets. They beat the Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday night to extend their winning streak to 13 games. In other mega-important news Tiger Woods is dating….ah who cares, just win golf tournaments buddy. And that about raps this past week in sports. It has been mostly irrelevant, but it was enough to hold us over until the main course; the NCAA tournament.

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook athttp://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!